A/N: Well everyone apologies for the delayed update, school holiday and all...Anyways we are almost there to the Operation Sucker Punch reveal, only a few more chapters until showtime! Here is the next offering...I do not own the characters and as always thanks to you readers, reviewers and followers...Enjoy xo

Chapter 8

Wally and Beatriz

He was watching the ladies practice one of their numbers for Operation Sucker Punch. His attention though was focused on one certain lady, as she twirled and laughed during their performance. He really liked her, he was initially attracted to her like every woman he met. But Bea was different she actually looked at him and seemed to listen to him. Don't get him wrong Diana, Shayera and Zatanna paid attention to him too. But Bea and him could talk for hours about anything and everything.

He had fallen in love with her over a year ago when the Justice League had been invited to attend a charity function for orphan children in Washington. Diana had forwarded the email to all members asking for confirmation on who would attend with her. Half the league were able to attend as the other half were either on duty, standby or had previous engagements they could not reschedule. Wally loved children and was actively involved with charities for youth in his city. He jumped at the chance and was excited he did when he found out Fire was going also.

At the event they had gotten to know each other and found they had quite a few things in common. Especially their drive to help orphaned children, Bea and her sister having been orphans themselves. Bea became sad when telling him of her sister who had died at 10 years of age from pneumonia whilst they were in a foster home, Bea was 16. She had been devastated as Emma had been her only remaining family. The sisters had been orphaned for 5 years since their parents had been killed in a flash flood whilst trying to return home to their girls during a severe storm after working in the fields. Having no family in the country or anyone come to claim them the girls became the governments wards. Bea had always ensured to stay close to her sister and they had managed to stick together when foster homes took them on. Bea had been discovered by a talent scout in Sao Paolo six months after burying her sister, where she had gone to try and find a job. Wally's heart melted at hearing this and he vowed to always make her smile no matter what.

Fire had been recruited together with her best friend Tora Olafsdotter or as she was known Ice, by Vixen. The women had all met through modelling and when Mari had been asked if she had any nominees to add to the recruitment drive she had not hesitated putting their names forward. Both women were a pair that did almost everything together and joining the league was no different. Their powers were a compliment to each other like the sun and moon. Bea could control fire with her pyrokinesis and Tora could create ice and mold it to her will, hence they called themselves Fire and Ice. They both had strong accents when they spoke, Bea being Brazilian and Tora being Norwegian.

The male contingent had not complained as the recruitment drive had been 75% women and Wally had been over the moon, volunteering to give the newest recruits the grand tour of the Watchtower. Much to his disappointment Diana and Shayera had been chosen to help the ladies transition. As they all filed past Wally one particular recruit stopped in front of him, she was dressed in tight pants and a matching boob tube and was covered in green flames. Wally looked up at her face and his jaw dropped.

"Excuze mi please….it iz an honour to meet you Mizta Flash", she said in a heavily accented voice.

Wally continued to gape at her.

She smiled and extended her hand out to him, "My hope is we do mission together one day, noh?"

Wally couldn't believe his ears, someone actually volunteering to work with him?

"Uhhhh…..noh…..I mean yes that would be great"

Omigod Wally don't let her think you are an idiot

He looked down at her still extended hand surrounded with green flames and slowly reached out with his tentatively to clasp hers.

"Itz ok Mizta Flash, I won't hurt you"

"It's just Flash, miss. But you can call me Wally"

She shook her head frowning, "E mesmo? Noh, that will not do, is Wally short for something?"

He grimaced, "Wallace", he told her in a small voice.

She smiled, "Lindo maravilhoso! Wallace, I like very much, noh?"

Wally nodded grinning, he liked very much.

"Oh no, I better go, nice meeting you Wallace, um beijo!", and kissed both his cheeks, where Wally blushed brightly.

"You too….ahhh"

"They call me Fire, my name is Beatriz Bonilla Da Costa but you can call me Bea, Tchau", she said as she walked quickly away to rejoin the other recruits.

"Bea", Wally sighed.

"Don't even think about it", Batman growled behind him.

Wally jumped three foot in the air, "Arrrgghhh….Bats why do you always do that?"

"Because I am the Batman"

Wally rolled his eyes, then turned to stare in the direction that Bea had left, "Awww man….can't I even

daydream at least?"

"No!"

"You know Bats when she said Noh it actually meant yes? Go figure!", Wally grinned.

"Do you want to see how fast you can run with broken legs, noh?", Batman smirked at him.

Wally's smile disappeared, "Point taken"

Wally West was one of the founding members of the League or as commonly referred to the Original Seven. He was considered the prankster or joker of the league, he had even heard whispers of being referred to as the joke of the League or even the butt of the league. This had hurt him immensely as he thought that he was just looking on the bright side of things when they looked bad or even hopeless at times. It was a reflex action of his to crack a joke or make light of the situation when circumstances seemed dim as it was his coping mechanism to not allow the nervousness inside him take control.

There had been one occasion when he had blundered on a mission that almost cost Diana, Shayera and himself their lives. They had been called in to stop Giganta, Grundy, Livewire and Devil Ray from stealing weapons from Central City. Flash was tasked to deal with Giganta who distracted him by smiling and asking him out on a date, bending down as if to kiss him. But then she had backhanded him into a nearby wall knocking him out. Whilst Star Sapphire had snuck up and blasted Shayera from behind allowing Livewire to shock her unconscious.

Diana was fighting Grundy and she was winning the fight until Grundy bodily tackled her into a building that winded her for a few seconds. But it was enough for Devil Ray to finally hit her with one of his poisoned stingers in her neck, she had been successfully dodging them using her silver bracers but now she could feel the poison slowly working into her nervous system. Cheetah who showed up out of nowhere then took a cheap shot and scratched her chest with both hands before round house kicking Diana into oblivion.

Superman and Green Lantern had arrived a minute later having assisted firefighters with a severe bush fire in a western part of Sydney Australia which had threatened multiple lives and homes. John had rushed to Shayera picking her up and quickly checking her pulse, breathing in relief when it steadily beat under his thumb. He lifted her up in his arms and quickly made his way over to Wally who was slowly coming too and rubbing his head sorely.

Kal had immediately honed in on Diana and blurred to her position to find her heavily injured and still unconscious. Knowing it was unusual for Diana to be easily taken out by Grundy and his cohorts, he was worried. He quickly scanned her body and found the poison running through her veins. Frantically he called the Watchtower for urgent transportation relaying to J'onn what had happened. He located the entry site on her neck and placed his lips over it and began to try and suck what poison he could out of her system, praying that they were not too late.

Diana had been hit by one of Devil Ray's stingers before but had managed to retrieve the antidote from him shortly after before she succumbed to it. Batman had been able to make a supply from the remnants she had given to him after. Kal hoped that they would make it in time and that there would be no lasting damage to her system if they did. They had materialised a few seconds later in the infirmary where J'onn and Batman who he had called in urgently, were waiting.

Time being of the essence no one spoke as they rushed her to one of the beds and Batman inserted an IV drip into her left arm. J'onn had placed monitor tabs on her chest and forehead to track her pulse, breathing and blood levels. Superman had paced nervously waiting. Once they had completed their work he had rushed over and grabbed a nearby chair sat heavily in it and tenderly lifted her right hand into both of his and bowed over praying for her quick recovery.

J'onn and Bruce had looked at him smiling inwardly knowing that the Man of Steel was in love with Diana but had yet to admit it to himself and certainly hadn't yet to Diana. They knew though after this display it was only a matter of time. Wally had walked in a short time later and found them all like that, the guilt in his eyes at seeing Diana laid up like that weighed heavily on him. He turned to leave when John entered carrying a now awake Shayera who was yelling at him to put her down and that she was fine. He suddenly kissed her hard and told her to shut up. To everyone's surprise she did just that and laying her head gently on his shoulder sighed and closed her eyes. Wally left the infirmary dragging his feet and a heavy heart.

A few days later after their debriefing where they had all gotten a severe lecturing from Superman for not calling for support sooner, whilst Wally had to endure John's death stare and Batman's glare he had hung his head in shame and made to leave the conference room. Diana was awake but still laid up in the infirmary she had joined via video camera feed.

"Wally", Shayera called to him.

He turned around slowly to face her with regret in his eyes.

"It wasn't your fault-"

"Yes it was"

"No! We were outnumbered and couldn't call for support in time. These things happen Wally, you know that"

"But Shay if I hadn't have been distracted by Giganta I would have been able to help you and Di-"

"No Wally you could have been severely injured by any of the others, that is why Diana assigned you Giganta, you know how to disable her quickly"

"Not this time", he sighed frustratingly.

"I know Wally but sometimes things don't always go to plan ok?"

He nodded slowly still unsure.

"Wally", Diana gently called him, "can you come to the infirmary with two iced mochas please?"

"Sure Di, no prob", he rushed out to make them.

As the door slid shut on his exit Diana said, "Superman, Green Lantern and Batman…..you should all be ashamed of yourselves", she glared at each one in turn.

"Now Diana-", Clark began.

"I'm sorry….what?", John asked angrily.

Batman just grunted.

Shayera sat back in her seat, folding her arms across her chest she smiled slowly knowing what was about to take place. J'onn patiently waited also for what was to unfold.

"Wally is the youngest member of our team and sometimes feels like he is not as powerful or useful as the rest of us. His value is as equal if not more important than any one of us, remember how he jumped in without a thought for his own safety and saved us from the evil snake spirit in the Black Heart and the planet from Braniac and Luthor?", the men all nodded slowly, "Good. Wally gives with his heart in everything but this vulnerability opens him to being the most affected by judgement and opinions of others. As for Wally feeling like a second rate member that stops here. We will ALL treat him better and ensure that he never feels that way again. Understood?", all present nodded. Shayera grinned widely.

"The mission was a failure because I failed to judge the situation correctly not factoring Cheetah, Devil Ray and Star Sapphire to show up. We were grossly outnumbered and I decided not to call for backup as Kal and John were already tied up in Australia, J'onn was manning the Watchtower and Batman was busy in Gotham. This is why the recruitment drive needs to happen sooner not later", all present nodded again.

"We can discuss that when I return to active duty, but now I am going to enjoy my iced mocha with Wally", with that she switched the feed off, just as Wally breezed in with an iced mocha in each hand.

"Here we are Di", he sped over to her to place both on her bedside table, and then made to leave.

"Where are you going Wally?"

"To leave you in peace"

"Wally West you are not seriously thinking of leaving me to finish two iced mochas on my own are you?", she arched an eyebrow at him smiling and patting her bed beside her legs.

"Uhhhh….noooo….of course not", he sat down where she had indicated facing her and reaching to hand her one mocha while he grabbed the other for himself.

"Wally, tell me what's wrong?"

He looked down at his lap and said quietly, "I screwed up, Di, you and Shayera got hurt pretty bad"

"Wally….Wally?...look at me…."

He looked up into her beautiful blue eyes and pulled his mask off his head, revealing his messed up red hair.

"It was not your fault so don't go blaming yourself. It was my poor judgment that resulted in what happened. You did your part just like I asked. We did not count on those others showing up and we were too few to their too many. You have nothing to be sorry for. As members of the Justice League we are willing to lay our lives on the line because that is who we are. Wally you are an equal member of our Original Seven and should never think you are any less than that. You may joke and seem lighthearted at times or appear not to take things seriously. But I know that is your way of preparing for missions, as we all have our own unique styles of mentally preparing. Your heart Wally West is one of pure gold. Notwithstanding being the fastest man on the planet you will always be alongside Kal and I, one of the first on the scene. You always think of others first and always put yourself last"

Wally's face was now as red as his suit.

Diana reached out to stroke his face lightly, "We are honoured and proud you are on our team, and a part of our family. Any woman would be proud to have you in her life, as Shayera and I are. You are smart, funny, caring and adorable. I hope one day you find the woman who deserves you Wally and she treats you like the King you are"

"What about you Di?", he grinned, wriggling his eyebrows hopefully.

She smiled at him, "Not a chance"

They laughed and then hugged each other as the good friends that they were. Wally felt so much better and vowed that what happened on that mission would never happen again. He had a family that loved and cared for him and he would never let them down a second time.

He returned to the present and found the ladies were ready to do the next act which involved him. He took a last longing look at Bea who had been watching him. They smiled gently at each other. He was going to ask her out for coffee on the night of Bruce's party after Operation Sucker Punch and to hell with thinking he was not worthy. He was the Flash and a founding member that deserved to win the girl of his dreams too!

Mentally high-fiving himself for bravery he sped over to join the ladies.